The invention disclosed herein pertains to a device for feeding articles automatically and will be illustrated herein as performing the function of feeding outserts for application to containers although the device can feed a variety of other articles as well.
Outserts, which are actually folded strips of literature, are commonly applied to pharmaceutical containers to inform a purchaser of proper dosages and contraindications, for example. The conventional way of adhering outserts to containers or their cartons is to transport the articles along a horizontal plane in the course of which glue is applied to a surface of the article so it can pick up by adhesion an outsert that is presented toward the article from a spring biased stack in a magazine channel. The traditional feeding method requires critical adjustment. A spring that pushes the stack of outserts toward the adhesion coated side of the moving article tends to apply a lesser and lesser pushing force on the stack or row of outserts as the stack approaches depletion so that it must be reloaded in the magazine. It is also problematical in conventional practice to gate the outserts from the exit end of the magazine in a stable and controlled fashion. As the outserts arrive consecutively at the output gate they must be restrained so that the force of the pusher spring does not push an outsert out of the gate when the container has not arrived at that point yet. The penalty for unstable outsert feeding under prior practice is that the feeding rate and, hence, the production rate of articles could be lower than it could otherwise be if springs and pneumatic or hydraulic pushers could be dispensed with.
Another preexisting method of applying outserts to containers involves picking up the outserts with an adhesive belt, applying adhesive to the outsert and tacking it onto the article. This procedure has the handicap of the preexisting procedure outlined above where there is no positive gripping control over the outsert before it is pressed onto and adhered to the article.